Roadwork complicates school commute for Highland Elementary

Karin Hite, assistant principal, walks with Elijah Winkel, 7, left, and Mireina Padilla, 7, and other Highland Elementary School students in a "Walking School Bus" on Tuesday while headed to school. School personnel are making efforts to keep everyone safe while construction is occurring on Emerald Street in front of the school. (Robin Zielinski — Sun-News)

LAS CRUCES &GT;&GT; Back-to-school traffic just became a little more hectic for Highland Elementary parents and staff as construction crews began tearing up the school's main access road Tuesday.

Emerald Street will be out of commission for one or two weeks while road crews install utility lines to connect a private business being built across the street. Denny's is scheduled to open on Emerald and Bataan Memorial West, across from the school, in the coming months.

In the meantime, parents and administrators are rerouting about 800 students' commute to the largest elementary school in the city.

"It was hectic before, and now, with this, it's even more crazy," parent Adriana Martinez said before sending her 5-year-old daughter off to play on the playground.

Martinez picks up her daughter from school each day. With increased traffic, she said she will now have to leave work earlier to begin the trek from her job at a Missouri Avenue doctor's office to pick up her daughter.

Administrators are encouraging parents to let their children ride the bus, and forming daily walking groups to guide students to class from nearby neighborhoods. Las Cruces Public Schools sent volunteers to help control traffic and escort students, and the Las Cruces Police Department is stepping up its efforts as well, Highland assistant principal Karin Hite said.

"We're going to get through it," Hite said. "We have a lot of volunteers helping us."

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City Manager Robert Garza said the private contractor working on the Denny's installation asked to connect the gas, water and sewer lines this week and next to save time.

"We said, 'Really? Is this the best time to do this?'" Garza said. "... And they said, 'Yeah, but we're in a time crunch. If we don't do it now, it could be a bigger pain in the future.'"

The roadwork could be finished in two weeks if crews closed off the entire street, or it could take six weeks to finish if city officials had asked the contractor to keep a lane open, Garza said.

"Inconveniencing everybody for six weeks could be a lot worse than inconveniencing everybody completely for two," he said.

The East Mesa school will have daily "walking school buses," in which groups of students and an adult walk to school together, for the next week, Hite said. Usually, Highland has a walking school bus about once a month, she said.

"We have learned to be flexible," she said. "Educating kids is our bottom line, and getting them to school is part of that."

School administrators have also canceled an open house in light of the construction.

Emerald Street will be closed from Ross Street to halfway between the school's two entrances, according to an LCPS news release. The entrance nearest to Bataan Memorial West will remain open.

Parents can drop off and pick up children by driving on Bataan Memorial West, turning right onto Emerald and entering the school's parking lot, according to the release.

Parents also may park in the nearby neighborhood and walk up Emerald to pick up their children in the afternoons, according to the news release. Highland staff will guide students out of cars and ensure they walk on the sidewalk to school, according to the release.

Travis Treon usually drives his 5-year-old daughter, Sydney, to school each morning, and hasn't yet decided whether he'll keep bringing her or send her on the bus.

"We'd like to keep bringing her in our own vehicle to make sure she gets to the right place," he said while standing near the school playground. "So I guess we'll have to leave a little bit earlier. I'm not real worried about it, but it is an inconvenience."